challenge for the year ahead. he said that the robot would be like jarvis from the comic ironman. he would be able to recognize friends, let them in the door and keep an eye on his daughter's room. more on the website at www.aljazeera.com. >> getting tough, president bush's announcement putting him in the g.o.p.'s line of fire. allies of saudi arabia back efforts to cut diplomatic ties with iran. and markets falling on the first trading day of the new year.

>> this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm del walters. president obama back at the white house this morning. his first order of business will be trying to end gun violence in america. >> we know we can't stop every act of violence, but what if we try to stop even one. what if congress did something, anything to protect our kids from gun violence? >> the president will meet with attorney general loretta lynch later today with hopes of getting guns off the streets. he said he's tired of congressional inaction and he's willing to use executive action to close loopholes in current gun laws, and the president throwing down the gauntlet. >> you're absolutely right. he's coming out of the blocks on the new year, and happy new year to you. the day after he's going to be having this meeting with attorney general loretta lynch,

and it springs from the frustration. the president said this has been his number one frustration in office, his inability to pass tougher gun safety laws as they termed it at the white house, especially in the wake of new town sandy hook, the disaster there, the effort of congress collapsing, and really after rosebergen oregon, and the college shooting there, and president obama coming in the briefing room offering that le that statement. he's expanding background checks, this has been an ongoing issue. many buyers of guns, if they go to a gun store undergo a background check. not true if they go to a gun show. if they buy online or from a private gun sale. the administration wants to force morsellers to register as dealers. he also is reported to wanting

to improve the reporting of lost and stolen weapons. so the president taking these steps notable in what the president is said to be proposing is missing, that is an assault weapons' ban. that has lapsed. that is something that stronger congress has been unable to push forward and something that the public has been in favor of for many years now. but the president is going to move forward. he has a couple of events planned. he'll be talking about this issue. this is at the top of the priority list in the new year. >> and mike, republicans standing in the laws for decades. what is the response? >> donachie done has announced. ted cruz called it complete lunacy. more notably on the democratic side bernie sanders who has had friction with the democratic base because of his past support for gun rights has come out and supported it with what the president is said to be

proposing, as has hillary clinton. legislatively you can imagine that republicans are going to be incensed in congress. they're mad and going to court over similar executive actions over immigration, and paul ryan saying this morning: >> unclear what republicans are going to be able to do about it since after all the purpose of the executive order that the president is said to be contemplate something to go around congress. >> if and when the president does this, when might we see these new laws take effect? >> well again, these are new regulations. that remains to be seen because it is an executive order. he could literally do it with a stroke of a pen, del, and we expect that to happen in the coming days. >> mike viqueira for us live in washington. thank you very much, and happy new year. in san bernardino this morning,

employees are going back to work after the deadly shooting where 14 people were killed and others injured when farooq ma league and her husband open fired in a building. and another has been indicted on the role in that attack. saudi arabia cutting ties with iran today. and others saying they will limit or cut diplomatic ties with iran. protesters stormed the saudi embays is, they were angry after the execution of nimr al-nimr. and how concerned is the u.n. over the stand off between iran and saudi arabia?

>> they're very concerned, indeed. if you look at the countries in the middle east there are no more heavyweights than saudi arabia and iran. they are central to the future of the region, and to what happens in the region. and they've had strained relation force many years. but it's never really got this bad. i don't think anyone thinks now they've cut diplomatic relations these two countries will actually involve themselves in hostilities. the problem is that these countries are directly involved in other wars going on in the region. >> so james, as we see these two major powers jockey for position, how concerned are they at the united nations that we could see events boil over? >> well, i think the two places they are most worried about are the places where they hoped the new year, perhaps there could be a new start of peace efforts. they are number one, yemen, and already a very fragile truce has been ended. there is no truce in the saudi-backed coalition involved

in military frustration operations as before. and the other place is syria. there had been some hope, but now with the new effort with the u.s. and russia, and saud saudi arabia and iran, they could get peace talks going. that was hoped to begin the 25th of this month in geneva. inow the new mission is to try desperately to keep this peace track going. >> james bays live for us at the united nations thank you very much. there. is a new internet video out that appears to show isil executing five men they say are british spies. isil accuses the men of gathering intelligence against the group in syria. in the footage the men confessed they filmed in raqqa. they're shot to death by mass executioners and mock prime

minister david cameron and promise to invade the u.k. a militia that took over the federal building on saturday after a judge told two ranchers to surrender and will serve longer sentences for setting fires to government land. >> people have been abused long enough, really. their lands and their resources that have been taken from them to the point where it's putting them literally in poverty. if we do not do something, if we do not make a hard stand that we will be in position where we won't be able to as a people. >> al jazeera's live by phone in burns, oregon. federal workers are not at work because that have stand off. any idea how long this might last? >> well, you know, it's hard to

tell. in fact, i think that there are about two dozen of the protesters holed up there in the wildlife refuge, and really there are more media here than there are protesters at this point because everybody is here wondering if there was going to be a shootout of some kind. at this point the fbi just joined. they flew in yesterday, and they're going to try to keep this peaceful. however, the occupiers are saying they don't want to leave. they won't, and they have enough food to last them a couple of years. >> carol, this is the curious part. the two local ranchers at the center of this case say they'll turn themselves in today. but what do they say about all the support they're receiving. >> well, the support from the community is fantastic. everyone is behind the ranchers because most people here live off the land the way those men do. but they did not expect for bundy and his so-called patriots to be here supporting them, and they say that the occupiers don't speak for them. meanwhile, the sheriff is going

to have a press conference in a couple of hours, and he has been known to say that he believed the occupier are here not for the ranchers, but for their own agenda. they want all federal and local lands which are owned by the government to be given back to private land owners. >> now do the people in the community agree with what the anti-government protesters are standing for? >> well, you know there is no school this week. the school district canceled an entire week of school because they don't want danger to the kids. the courts are closed. the town is kind of shutting down because of these two dozen people decided to hole up at this ref region--refuge. some people are angry about it, but others are indifferent. >> carol mckinley, live for us from oregon by phone. thank you very much. today is the first day of trading for the u.s. and it has already been dubbed as one of the worst days in 84 years. the stocks are down and all this in response to the drastic drop

to china's stock. the china's stocks plunged 8% automatic triggering a halt in trading, reacting to an economic slow down. those concerns spreading to markets around the world. patricia sabga with he's live. >> how weak is it really and china's weakness is nothing new. but when we take a look at this reading on manufacturing, this is a private reading and it has shown it was the tenth consecutive month of a contraction in china's manufacturing sector. also couple this with the currents duvall ways. we've seen the bank of china deas well the yuen for a fifth straight session. put this against the backdrop of what beijing was trying to do all of last year.

they were trying to jump start the economy, and nothing that they do seems to work. >> we saw these troubles earlier in the summer because of the same problem. is this an indication that beijing has not cured itself from the economic woes? >> that's a good question. we don't have fantastic data out of china all the time. the manufacturing data is good, but we don't know how big consumer command is. the commodity channel a big one. economies like brazil, economies like new zealand, economies like australia, okay, and all of this feeds back to the united states. because of course as china slows down t drags down the global volume in trade. and put this against the backdrop of a strong dollar,

that made the dollar stronger and that made exports even more expensive. >> does this say that the u.s. economy is not strong? >> not that the u.s. economy is not strong, but we're vulnerable to other weaknesses in the world because we're part of a global economy. half of the revenues from the s&p 500 come from sales over seas. as the at tiles for goods and services wanes from overseas and the goods and services in the united states become more expensive, that cuts into the profits for the united states. >> saudi arabia and iran, big oil producers, how does this effect the equation? >> this is interesting. it hits the stock market negatively. we saw oil prices rise because

this is what happens in markets. a lot of it is psychology and sentiment. they see trouble in the middle east, specifically between the great powers saudi arabia and iran. saudi, opec's biggest producer with the opec, the 800-pound gorilla with opec. the reaction is that this could interrupt the flow of oil, prices would rise. but now we're seeing reality set in. the basic reality is that there is a global glut of oil. and that has been depressing prices. so whereas--basically if you're a consumer at the pump, don't worry about your gas prices going up. >> just your 401k going down. >> yes, and the u.s. shale oil has been under pressure, they've done everything they can to increase productivity and cut costs, but this year is when the rubber hits the road. where you have such low prices

for oil, it's more expensive to produce oil than it is for saudis to produce oil. here is it is more expensive. shale oil costs are more expensive. there is a lot of pressure, and you'll see that bear out in the mining sectors of the employment report that we'll get on friday. >> that's why we ask you all these questions. thank you. coming up next, puerto rico, and how severe the economy is for the island. and overflowing of the mississippi. we'll have the latest.

>> puerto rico is expected to default on its death.

$37billion is due today. the governor said that they don't have the money and the situation is not going to change any time soon. >> the beautiful island of puerto rico is starting 2016 in debt. just the way they began 2015. they're expected to default today on a $1 billion payment of which most of that money they will pay, but there is interest they say is not guaranteed, a and they're not going to release those funds. indeed, the second default. the first one was in august of 2015. the governor said that the island has done everything they can to stop the bleeding here. let's tick down a few of the things they they have done. they've delayed tax refunds. they've slashed healthcare. they've let go of 30,000 public workers and close 100 schools and increased the sales tax by 50% and another increase is

expected this spring. the governor said the only issue, the only way forward is if congress acts, speaker of the house paul ryan meets with lawmakers and gives them a path of economic reconstruction. otherwise this island is in doomsday for the rest of this year. now they're hoping that in the next few months they can get some sort of plan going. as we know puerto rico cannot file for chapter 9 bankruptcy because it's a territory, which is much like a state. a state can also not file for chapter 9. the only way forward. the only way to make things better is if congress decides to give them a path to economic r reconstruction. >> g.m. said they will invest $500 million as part of that partnership the two companies will open hubs where drivers can rent g.m. cars. that may give people a chance to

work as their drivers. the company now valued at $5.5 billion. that by the way is close to 10% of g.m.'s value. thousands of residents along the mississippi river are being told to affect. the rising waters headed south into tennessee and arkansas, but not before leaving 25 people dead and destroying dozens of homes. >> just the tops of these houses are peeking out from the floodwaters in southern illinois. dozens are dead and a hundred homes destroyed by a swollen mississippi river. >> here at alexander county it's the worst that we've seen. >> the fear, more damage from surging water levels making their way south from the mississippi. the river is expected to crest along the tennessee and arkansas border early this week and then head farther south into mississippi. >> we're continue to plan for that in case we were to have a levee break. we'll have the resources in

place to deal with whatever comes our way. >> one levee has breached, making some homes only reachable by boat. the reynolds' family are checking in on their mother. >> my mom, she's older and this is where she lives, and that's where she wants to stay so we'll do whatever we can to make that happen. >> authorities say firefighters are going home to home warning of the floodwater coming their way. al jazeera. >> and southern california also expected to get lots of rain local officials say that they're doing everything they can to get ready for a potentially historic storm season. >> last el niño the big storm that happened 18 years ago we lost about 14 people. and we had billions of dollars of damage. so we are determined to get out in front of this. >> l.a.'s mayor said that the city has been getting ready for months and an emergency task force has been created for storm-related incidents. and crews in india are searching

for victims under republic aft after a powerful earthquake struck that struck just before dawn in northeast india. it was felt as far away as bangladesh and myanmar. >> the earthquake struck 30 kilometers in prague, and it happened in the middle of the night. people say they were jolted right out of their beds. running out of their homes screaming, crying, one person spoke saying one heavy bell at a temple nearby started ringing because of the sheer amount of shaking that was going on. there has not been a lot of reports of damage. however the rural parts of the state have poor connectivity to begin with. getting information from those areas is still only now trickling in. now the capital itself which has a quarter million people as residents has reported at least one building collapse. now there are reports that there

may be workers underneath. the local rescue teams are checking that right now, and rescue teams from the region are still checking, they're still on their way to the area. >> now a message of hope for refugees in the year add. humanitarians on the greek island of lesbos, they used life jackets to send this message of peace. more than a half million people arriving on that land in 2015 all seeking refugee from war and poverty. about 3,000 life jackets had to be used representing all of the lives lost and hope for safer crossings in 2016. and sweden sending a different message. travel restrictions going into effect today that will make it tougher for refugees to call that country their new home. it includes tighter border controls and i.d. checks on trains, buses and boats headed to sweden. >> i'm donald trump, and i approve this message. >> thdonald trump releasing his

first television commercial. and "star wars" a force awakens prepares to meet another milestone.

>> that is donald trump's first tv ad for his presidential run. as he doubles down on his controversial idea like the temporary ban of muslims going into the usa and the new wall between the u.s. and mexico. we asked if the commercial is a game changer. >> we heard from most that donald trump is leading in this poll and that poll, but the polls are cutting against him a little bit. ted cruz is up in iowa. there are several candidates in new hampshire that are nipping at the edges of donald trump, and a few of them include chris chrissie, and you look at john mccain in 2008 and they set themselves on a major path going

forward. it could happen again in new hampshire. the bottom line is donald trump is looking at these last few weeks as the game begins in earnest and he's putting serious money behind his efforts not relying on free media. >> trump spending money on those ad is a sign of his commitment. thhillary clinton at a rally on sunday where she was heckled. >> you're very rude. [applause] >> well, the woman was identified as republican state representative catherine o'brien. she said she wanted to ask mrs. clinton about allegations of sexual assault involving her husband. the tsb showing footage of

the sunken ship that is 15,000 feet beneath the surface. it was recorded using a mini sub. the sinking in october selling through that cat 4 hurricane on its way to puerto rico, none of the 33 crew members survived. "star wars" the force awakens could be the highest growing film. >> nothing will stand in our way. >> the force awakens.hauling in $88 million over the weekend. for now avatar is the highest earning domestic film. worldwide "avatar" grossing $728 billion. "titanic" not far behind. jurassic world.third. and then the avengers. the furious seven. and "star wars" rounding off the top ten, avengers, harry potter, and

ironman. the news continues live from london next. >> saudi arabia's allies cut or cool their relations with iran as the diplomatic dispute between the two rivals grows. you're watching al jazeera live from london. coming up on the program, u.s. and european markets fall after chinese stocks collapse on the first day of trading on the year. europe's pass free zone under threat as there are border checks to stop refugees. plus overstaying their welcome. why some